When Going Gets Tough, a Call Comes In For ‘Search and Rescue’
By : Robert Souza : 10/7/08

A call comes in to the Sheriff’s Office that someone in Castro Valley has gone missing in the thickly wooded area along Palomares Creek.

Deputies who respond look for the missing person and try to size up the situation as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.

What happens next?

That’s when dispatchers put the call out to the lesser-known Alameda County Sheriff ’s Search-and-Rescue team.

“When the initial investigation has become overwhelmed because expertise or equipment has become limiting, it usually gets handed to us,” said Mark Collins, coordinator for the Search-and- Rescue and Dive teams.

Made up of a cross-section of eclectic volunteers—lawyers, business owners, dentists, nuclear lab technicians—the Search and Rescue team is called out many times to look for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s who are lost or who have wandered off. But on occasion they are called on to assist in cases that end up being crime situations.

“We talk to whoever is on scene and get as much information as we can to prepare us for what lies ahead,” explained Collins. “We need to know when and where the person was last seen, the age, if they are on medication and if they have access to a car...those are things that impact where the person we’re looking for may be.”

Remarkably, 10 of the 57 on the Search-and-Rescue team and 5 of the 44 on the Dive team are Castro Valley residents.

“We’re kind of the part of the Sheriffs Department no one knows about,” said Castro Valley resident Bill Weber who has served on the Search-and-Rescue team for the past 37 years.

Weber explained that back in 1972 he spotted a local newspaper listing advertising a “search and rescue course” and took it in the hopes of landing a job with the parks department, but ended up volunteering with the agency shortly after completing the course.

“I really thought it would be an interesting community volunteer thing to do,” said Weber, who recently retired from his day job as an engineer for the City of Oakland.

Last Tuesday Collins took The Forum on a tour of the Searchand- Rescue and Dive-team equipment facility next to Santa Rita Jail. It houses an impressive array of boats, rescue trucks, a power generator that could power a good part of Castro Valley Boulevard, and a command center equipped with communications radios and computers.

“It’s risky and dangerous stuff these people do. They can end up right in the center of some really dicey stuff, and we’re fortunate to have so many knowledgeable and experienced people in our crews,” he said.

Along with the Search and Dive teams, the Alameda County Office of Emergency Services (OES) has an Air Squad and a Horse Mounted Posse to offer support in their specific areas. “The average person doesn’t realize the Sheriffs Office has all these additional assets,” Collins added.

As part of state regulations, OES crews must be made available to all local police agencies who need them. They were called up to assist in the 2006 investigation into the death of Nina Reiser and helped recover her remains in Oakland two years later. They also assisted on-scene for the 1991 Oakland Hills fire and the 1989 Cypress Structure collapse following the 7.1 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

“When the call comes in at any hour to respond, I think of what the weather is like, where’s the location and the equipment we’ll need,” Weber said. “It’s just like being a fireman...you get that adrenaline rush, and after 37 years I still get that rush.”

For more info. on the Alameda County Search and Rescue Team, visit http://alcosar.com/alcosar/Welcome.html. For details on joining the team call Deputy Collins at (925) 803-7813.

You don't have to become a Deputy Sheriff to work in Search and Rescue though since it's a non-badged job. Law enforcement and SAR are two completely seperate units. Any citizen came join SAR since it's a non-paid job, as long as you meet the requirements of having a First Responder certification, then after the SAR training you pass the NASAR testing to be certified as SARTECH II. It's very easy to get into SAR if you have a first responder cert. You basically just join, then go through several months of the SAR training, then you become a volunteer in the unit. Then you have to go through a background investigation check, which is basically the same one the Deputy Sheriff's go through. It's a large packet with tons of questions, and they contact all of your references as well.
ALCO SAR only goes training once a year. Starts in April and ends in July.
http://alcosar.com/alcosar/Welcome.html